Flooring



June 18, 1940. GRUNERT 2,204,675

FLOORING Filed Sept. 29, 1937 I /5 l N V EN TOR. FRA NKAGRUNERT ATTORNEY.

Patented June 18, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FLOORING Frank A. Grunert, Menlo Park, Calif. Application September 29, 1937, Serial No. 166,335

Claims.

This invention relates to flooring and particularly to flooring used for so called parquetfloors. or hard .wood floors.

A parquet-floor or the usual hard wood floor is usually made of blocks laid side by side. Each block is in turn made of several pieces of flooring such as hard wood slats interlocked to fo'rma pattern in the block.

An object of the invention is to provide flooring pieces which can be interlocked into blocks in such a manner as to provide on the edges of the blocks longitudinal grooves so arranged as to facilitate the squaring up and the locking of the blocks in place by the use of suitable separate locking means such as keys.

Another object of the invention is to provide flooring blocks which are easily aligned, slid in place, and interlockedby a key, so as to form a solid smooth flooring. I

Another object of this invention is to provide a flooring which is highly useful and simple in construction. Convenience of arrangement, lightness and comparative inexpensive of manufacture are further objects which have been borne in mind in the production and development of the invention.

I am aware that some changes may be made in the general arrangements and combinations of the several devices and parts, as well as in the details of the construction thereof without departing from the scope of the present inventionas set forth in the following specification, and as defined in the following claims; hence I do not limit my invention to the exact arrangements and combinations of the said device and parts as described in the said specification, nor do I confine myself to the exact details of the construction of the said parts as illustrated in the accompanying drawing.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, which will be made manifest in the following detailed description and specifically pointed out in the appended claims, reference is had to the accompanying drawing for the illustrative embodiment of the invention, wherein:

Figure 1 is a fragmental plan view of a floor, showing flooring in place constructed in accordance with my invention.

Figure 2 is a sectional view of my flooring the section being taken on the line 2-2 of Figure 1. Figure 3 is a plan view of my flooring piece. Figure 4 is an edge view of my flooring piece. Figure 5 is an end view of my flooring piece. Figure 6 is a fragmental, perspective view of my flooring piece.

Figure 7 is a perspective detail view of the key used in my flooring, and

Figure 8 is a fragmental sectional view showing the joining of my flooring pieces.

In its general organization my flooring in- 6 eludes blocks l5, preferably of polygonal, such as rectangular, outline as shown in Fig. 1. Each block has a tongue I6 extended from one edge, grooves l1 and 18 on the edges at right angles to the tongue l6, and a groove is on the edge 10' parallel with the tongue l6.

These blocks ii are so grouped together that two pairs of the meeting edges of the blocks are grooved edges and into the aligned grooves at such meeting edges is inserted a key 2|.

An end of the key 2| projects at 22 beyond the corner of the blocks so as to extend into grooves at the meeting corners or points of two other blocks thereby squaring up the meeting points of the four blocks.

In detail my invention includes flooring elements, or pieces 23 joined side by side so as to form one of said blocks l5. Each piece 23 is made substantially as illustrated in Figures 3 to 6 inclusive. The flooring piece 23 is an elongated 25 rectangular piece preferably made of suitable hard wood. On one longitudinal edge the flooring piece 23 has a longitudinal tongue l6. In the other longitudinal edge of the flooring piece 23 is provided a groove l9. In the opposite ends of the flooring piece 23 are provided the grooves I"! and Hi.

All the grooves and tongues are intermediate on the respective edges between the top and bottom of the piece 23. Each groove is of a cross sectional shape of half a dovetail the wider parallel side, or base of which forms the bottom 26. of the groove, while the shorter parallel side or top of the half dovetail forms the slot 21 of said groove. It is preferable that the side 28 at right angles to the base 26 form the upper side of the groove and the inclined side 29 be the lower boundary of said groove. The tongue I6 is of a cross sectional shape to fit exactly into said grooves. The tongue I6 is cut away at both ends and in the cut away places are formed short grooves at 22 of the same shape as of the other grooves heretofore described. In other words all the grooves and tongues on the flooring piece 23 are of the same cross sectional contour, namely of a shape that may be described as that of a symmetrical half of an isosceles trapezoid, the base of which forms the bottom 21 of the grooves or the corresponding top side of the tongue. It is to be noted that the tongue It may be made piece 23 throughout its length and by making the tongue I6 separately in the shape of the key 2| and slide it in place at will.

The key 2| is made'of a cross section to exactly fit a pair of aligned grooves. Therefore the cross sectional shape of the key 2| may be described as two symmetrical half dovetails joined at their narrower parallel sides. half isosceles trapezoids united so that the bases are the outside walls 3| of the key 2| while the shorter parallel tops coincide as the center line of the key 2| and the right-angle sides are contiguous to form'the top plane 32 of the key 2|. Each key 2| is longer than the longitudinal. side of a piece 23.

In operation the flooring pieces 23 are first interlocked by sliding the tongues I6 of one into the corresponding groove I9 of the next flooring piece. After several pieces 23 are so interlocked they form a flooring block I5 heretofore described. One tongue. I6 remains protruding from a side of the block l5, while in the opposite parallel edge of the block remains an empty groove I9. The grooves I1 and I8 in the ends of the flooring pieces Here in registry to form continuous grooves in the right angle edges of the blocks I5 as heretofore described.

Then the finished blocks I5 are laid, for instance in the manner shown in Fig. 1. The first block I5a has its tongue I6 pointing toward the next block I5b which latter is slid over said tongue I6 by its end groove I 6. The tongue I6 of block I5b points at right angles to the tongue of the first block I5a and is engaged by the end groove II of the third block I50. Such arrangement causes the tongue I6 of the third block I50 to be in staggered parallel position relatively to the tongue I6 of the first block I511. The fourth meeting block I5d is so placed that its tongue I6 is in staggered parallel position relatively to the tongue I6 of the second block I5b. Where grooved edge meets grooved edge, as the end groove I8 of the first block I5a and the side or longitudinal groove I9 of the fourth block I5d or the groove I9 of the third block I50 and the end groove II of the fourth block I5d, the blocks are bound together by inserting keys 2|. Therefore the order of laying the blocks would be as follows: first the first block I5a is put in place, then the fourth block I5d is placed alongside and a key 2| is inserted endwise into the aligned grooves I8 and I9. Then the second block I5b is slid in place over the tongue I Ii of the first block I5a. Then the third block I50 is slid over the tongue IE of the second block I51), and lastly a key 2| is inserted into the aligned grooves I9 and II of the respective blocks I50 and I501. The last mentioned key 2| projects into the cut away corners of the first and second blocks I5a and |5b thereby squaring up the meeting points of the four blocks into one firm unit. Theother end of each key 2| is spaced from the ends of the corresponding grooves to a distance equal the deptlyof a groove or one half of the width of the next key 2|. This operation can be continued repeatedly throughout the floor providing a staggered steplike arangement of positioning keys 2|, which all overlap in one direction only into the corners of adjoining blocks. The flooring blocks may be In other words two.

keyed together separately into selected size larger floor sections even'before laying if so desired.

Having thus described my invention what I now claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A flooring of the character described comprising" a plurality of polygonal blocks positioned side by side so that their meeting edges abut against each other and form a corner,.certain of said meeting edges having longitudinal retaining grooves in registering position, and a key so shaped as to interlock with both of said registering grooves to bind the edges together, said key protruding into said corner so as to square up the meeting points of said adjoining blocks, other meeting edges of said adjoining blocks being joined together by tongues and groove joints.

2. A flooring comprising a plurality of substantially rectangular blocks, each block having longitudinal grooves on three edges, a longitudinal tongue on the fourth edge of each block. said blocks being so positioned that the meeting edges of the blocks on two adjacent sides are both grooved, but on the other two adjacent sides the tongue of one block is engaged with the opposed groove of the other, and a key in each pair of opposed grooves to hold the blocks together, a recess formed in the end of each edge having a tongue, said keys extending at one end into said recess and into the groove opposite said recess so as to align the meeting points of the adjoining blocks.

3. A flooring made of a plurality of blocks, each block being made of a plurality of parallel pieces interlocked by tongue and groove joints on the longitudinal edges thereof, said pieces also having aligned grooves in each end thereof, said blocks being so arranged that two adjacent sides of adjacent blocks are also interlocked by tongue and groove joints, and the remaining two adjacent sides of' the respective blocks have their grooves aligned, and a key inserted into each .pair of such aligned grooves, the tongues being cut away at the ends thereof and a short groove being formed at said cut away portion, and said key overlapping into said short grooves so as to square up the meeting points of the adjoining block.

4. In a, combination a flooring element having a tongue and groove respectively on the opposite longitudinal edges thereof, and having. a groove in each end thereof, the ends of the tongue being cut away, and a key fitting into grooves on the meeting edges of adjoining elements, similar short grooves formed in place of the cut away ends of said tongue, the ends of said key over-, lapping into the respective short grooves.

5. In a flooring of the character described, a plurality of blocks for forming the flooring, said blocks having registering grooves in the meeting edges thereof, keys in said registering grooves, certain of said keys holding two adjacent blocks together and have an end extended into the corners of two other blocks in the meeting corners of said group of adjacent blocks, said keys extending in substantially parallel series at angles to each other so that each pair of consecutive keys engage two adjacent sides of the same block meeting at said corner.

FRANK A. GRUNERT. 

